The Pretoria Philatelic Society is 120 years old. It hosted its first stamp show in 1903 and this year presents its 20th show, where 75 stamp and postcard exhibits will be on display, from 17 to
20 October.

There will be exhibitions of picture postcards on the theme, ‘When Pretoria was still young’ and ‘The history of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek’. The stamp exhibits range from the ‘Commemoration of the Great Trek in 1938’, to ‘Definitive stamps of the Union of South Africa’, “Spoorwegnuusbladseëls”, and ‘The Anglo Boer War’.

The society met at the Erasmus Building, left, on the north-eastern corner of Church Square from 1906 to 1909. The white building to the right is Sammy Marks’ Marks Building. The activity seen here was in front of Melt Marais’s offices, a general property agent and broker, when rifles were issued to burghers

The show will be held at the Kleinkaap Boutique Hotel in Centurion from 10 am to 7 pm daily and from 9 am to 12 noon on the Saturday. Entrance is free.

A stamp auction will be held on Saturday at 11 am under the auspices of the South African Philatelic Dealer’s Association (SAPDA). Two workshops about picture postcards and the fast-growing ‘Open Philately Class’ will take place on Wednesday at 12 noon and Saturday at 10.30 am.

The society met at the Cultural History Museum next to the Pretoria Zoological Gardens in Boom Street from 1977 to1989

Founded
The Pretoria Philatelic Society (PPS) was founded on 16 February 1898. At this time it was the fourth one in South Africa, and the second in the Transvaal.

At a meeting on 2 March 1898, proposed rules for the PPS were formally adopted and membership cards to the 33 members were issued. The first annual general meeting was held on 15 March 1899, but due to the outbreak of the war, the society suspended its activities from 1899 to 1902.

Café Royal in Church Street, on the right, where many of the Pretoria Philatelic Society’s meetings were held at the beginning of the1900’s. The Tudor Chambers is on the left. In the background is the church, which was demolished in 1905/1906, on Church Square

The first annual year book was published in 1928 and in 1929 women were permitted to join the PPS for the first time. In 1928 the PPS played a leading role in the formation of the Philatelic Congress of South Africa, the forerunner of the present Philatelic Federation of South Africa (PFSA). This year is the 90th anniversary of the PFSA and its 80th congress.

The society met at the Pretoria Technical College on the corner of Church and Du Toit Streets from 1936 to 1971

The Pretoria Philatelic Society’s monthly meetings has been taking place at St Albans College in Lynnwood Glen since 1990.

Society meetings were held at Polley’s Hotel from 1929 to1936. It occupied the site of the present day Wachthuis in Pretorius Street opposite the Old Opera House